


Lucky Ones

by cat_77



Series: Gate Ministry [4]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2013-03-03
Packaged: 2017-12-04 05:34:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/707122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cat_77/pseuds/cat_77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They took Mer.  Jill is going to get her back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lucky Ones

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from the Bif Naked song "Lucky Ones."
> 
> * * *

 It was supposed to be a simple trading mission, but weren’t they all?  The people of M3X-492 called themselves the Sororre and were a primarily agrarian culture, but did boast several impressive old temples, which McKay had determined were likely Ancient research facilities based upon their descriptions.  
   
The team made the short trek from the gate to the village, said the proper hellos and abided by the proper genialities, before continuing on the slightly longer trek to the so-called temples.  They could see them while still quite some distance away, the architecture clearly of Lantean design.   
   
McKay had her PDA pulled out, both analyzing and recording the data as they walked.  “Picking up energy signatures, like that’s a surprise,” she reported, typing something else in to the handheld device.  “Huh,” she said, pausing to type some more.  
   
“’Huh’ what, Mer,” Jill prompted, her eyes drifting from the buildings to the wooded area around them before settling back on the scientist.  Teyla and Ronon waited patiently at her side, used to the distracted musings, but also knowing an answer always came eventually.  
   
“The readings match the standard Ancient power sources, not powerful enough for a ZedPM, but one of the lesser generators, but there’s this other undertone to them, something extra,” she explained, finally lifting her eyes from the readings to meet her teammates’ and shrugged.  
   
“And you don’t have any idea what it is?” Ronon guessed, fingers already on the hilt of his weapon.  
   
McKay shook her head.  “No, not yet,” she admitted, brushing a wayward curl out of her way.  “I haven’t seen anything quite like it before.  It’s almost more raw, less refined.  There are spikes, and then they fall away, only to come back again.  It could be malfunctioning, or it could be an entirely new energy source.  Either way, I’d say it’s worth investigating.”  
   
They looked to Sheppard for permission and she reluctantly nodded.  Something was setting her on edge, but she couldn’t tell what it was.  Maybe it was just the extra energy mixing in with the usual Lantean rhythms she felt around Ancient tech, she wasn’t sure.  What she was sure of was that it was enough to dictate caution.  “Agreed, but...” was all she needed to say, hearing the satisfying click of Teyla and Ronon readying their weapons just in case.  She flipped off the safety on her P90 and let Meredith lead the way.  
   
McKay obediently paused outside one of the doorways, letting Jill and Teyla shine their lights in and clear the room while Ronon stayed with her and covered their backs.  Activated by the nearby presence of the ATA gene, the room lit up on its own, showing itself to be empty aside from the usual equipment and some ornate wall hangings that appeared to have been made by the locals.  Mer entered with the Satedan following her, watching as she started scanning the consoles and screens for what she needed.  
   
McKay had reached the far side of the room, frowning at the clearly un-Lantean addition of a dark metallic screen when they heard the click.  “What was that?” she asked, head whipping around.  
   
Sheppard was already reaching for her life signs detector, flipping it into one hand as she steadied her weapon with the other.  “Shit!” she cursed.  “We’ve got about a dozen, maybe more approaching.  They’re circling around to the front to block us off.”  
   
“Perhaps they are only the villagers?  They do claim these were once temples, it is possible that there are those who still worship here,” Teyla pointed out.  No one mentioned the fact her own P90 was up and in ready position.  
   
“And the likelihood of that is...” Mer added sarcastically, reaching for her gear.  Most was still with her, but a few pieces were scattered around the room.  It was then she felt it: a barrier as solid and impenetrable as a wall, only she could see right through it.  A fascinating discovery, if she hadn’t apparently been on the other side of it from her team.  
   
“McKay, you coming?” Sheppard called from the main doorway, glancing back.  They had not blocked the entrance yet, but they were close.  
   
“Love to, can’t,” Mer said miserably, feeling around the edges of her prison.  A faint light marked the edge whenever she got too near.  Nothing painful or even really shocking, but annoying nonetheless.  The floor had thin lines the color of the metal behind her that seemed to parallel the field.  She never would have found them amongst the standard Ancient decoration if she had not known what she was looking for.  
   
Jill spun around, trusting Ronon to warn them if whoever it was got too close.  “McKay?” she questioned.  Seeing the miserable form trying to press through whatever was holding her, her tone softened.  “Mer?”  
   
Anything else that was to be said was interrupted by Ronon’s announcement of “They’re coming!”  It was a bit redundant as the walls near the metal box were pulling back to reveal armed men, all in unfortunately too familiar Genii uniforms.  
   
They started firing as soon as they were clear from the wall, Teyla returning fire and trying her best not to hit the structure holding McKay on the off chance it did not protect against such things.  A lucky shot from the enemy had one of the structures beside her exploding in a mass of sparks, tossing her back several steps though she never let up on the trigger.  
   
The sound of Ronon’s blaster signaled the frontal attack and Jill was torn between helping him, helping Teyla, or trying to rescue McKay.  She fired off several shots in each direction, beginning the slow creep over to her trapped teammate.  A hand on her vest pulled her back.  She turned to protest just as part of the ceiling collapsed right where she would have been.  The damage was significant, blocking the most direct route across the room as well as one of the secondary pathways.  
   
“We’ve gotta get out of here,” Ronon told her, pulling her to her feet from where she crouched behind the debris.   
   
“What about Mer?” she challenged.  She turned back to see the cage that held the still crouched woman retreating, another half a dozen Genii soldiers stepping up into the now open space.  
   
“We will find her,” Teyla promised, firing off another volley at their attackers.  
   
Ronon did the same in the other direction.  “The path is clear if we go now,” he warned.  
   
Sheppard reluctantly nodded, darting one last glance at the hole where her lover had been trapped.  All that was left were more soldiers, advancing through the rubble.  She fired on them all, hoping to cost them what they were costing her.  As they ran for the cover of the woods, she shot at everything that remotely looked like a Genii uniform.  
   
After several minutes of running, they cornered one hapless grunt stationed further away from the building than most, Teyla slamming him against a tree while Ronon kept a look out for others.  
   
“Where are they taking her?” Sheppard demanded.  
   
“Why should I tell you?” he gasped, the fist in his shirt tightening enough to restrict his airflow.  
   
Jill lowered her weapon and fired a shot, taking off the edge of the man’s boot.  “Because you want to walk again,” she replied.  She made a show of edging her weapon over slightly so it was centered over his foot.  “Where are they taking her?” she repeated.  
   
“There’s a tunnel that leads back to the Circle, we’ve got bases on several planets loyal to us, I don’t know which one was the final location,” he said quickly, edging his feet closer together and hopefully away from the bullet’s trajectory.  
   
“You’re lying,” Sheppard told him, finger tightening on the trigger.  
   
“No!  I’m not!” he insisted.  “The officers dial, we just follow.  Anything outside of our main camps and they keep the address to themselves.”  
   
Sheppard bit her lip, wanting to both doubt him and ask him more.  Anything else was a loss though as Ronon warned, “Here they come!”  
   
Teyla swung and knocked the man out cold with the butt of her gun.  Certain he would not be following or giving away their location, she joined her teammates on the run once more.

 

* * *

They ran for hours, each minute getting that much farther away from rescuing their teammate.  Every time they would stop to catch their breath, it was mere moments before they either heard something or the life signs detector warned them of people encroaching on their position.  At this point, it did not matter if it were Genii or the villagers.  They didn’t trust either.  True, the villagers could have been taken advantage of, but it was equally as likely that they were working with the Genii all along.  
   
Finally, when it had been nearly forty minutes since the last close encounter and daylight was quickly fading, Jill called for a rest.  They were near a rocky outcropping, hidden by trees and a shaded further by a looming cliff.  They had a relatively clear view of everything but the overhang above them and, as filthy as they were, blended into the scenery themselves.  As they drank from their canteens and munched halfheartedly on their spare Power Bars, Jill finally had a moment for her freak out.  
   
“They took her,” she said, her voice shaking as much as her hands.  She leaned against the rock face to steady herself, but all it did was make sure she didn’t fall down.  
   
“We will find her,” Teyla promised.  
   
“They took her and I just stood by and watched,” she whispered.  The Power Bar crumbled in her hand and she pounded it against the stone in a fit of frustration before tossing it away.  Taking a calming breath, she repeated, “They took her.”  
   
“And we’re going to get her back,” Ronon promised.  “And then we’re going to make them pay.”  
   
Sheppard nodded, not trusting her voice.  They would pay.  She would make sure of it.  Ronon and Teyla would help, that much was certain, but when it came time for revenge, she knew they would step back and let her at it.  In the time they had been teammates, they learned exactly what each of them needed, how to deal with it, when to push and when to let it go.  Right now she needed Mer.  After that, she needed whoever did this to suffer.  They would help her get Mer back, even if it involved taking out all the Genii who dared to cross their path along the way.  Once they found her, and found who was responsible, they would let her at them and be there to ground whatever pieces were left into the dirt.   
   
They had been at the outcropping for no more than twenty minutes when their radios chirped to life.  “Colonel Sheppard, this is Weir, do you copy?”  
   
She keyed her comm and answered, “Sheppard here.”  
   
Weir’s voice sounded relieved as it responded, “Your team is an hour overdue.  Something in those ruins catch your attention?”  
   
Jill bit her lip and resisted the urge to bang her head against the rock, letting her military training take over.  “Not quite,” she replied.  “We need immediate evac from approximately 25 klicks northeast of the gate.  I want a squad of Marines fully armed and ready for deployment and a team of scientists ready to hack the gate for the last dialed address.”  
   
That got Lionel’s attention.  “What’s wrong?” he asked, concern tinging his words.  
   
“We were attacked.  They took McKay.  We need to get her back.”  
 

* * *

The getting her back proved to be more problematic than originally expected.  Lorne and her team took a Jumper to Sheppard’s position, but were under orders to take the trio back to Beckett for a once over before they would be allowed to contribute to the search.  Caitlin tsked over them, fussing over wounds they had hardly noticed while Ellen and her team stood by to both get a report and make sure they did not ditch the good doctor.  
   
As Cait applied antiseptic and gauze to yet another insignificant scratch, Jill resisted the urge to slap her hands away, knowing this is how the other woman was dealing with the stress of her missing friend: over-caring for the ones she had left.  It was when she started cleaning the gash on her arm for the third time that Sheppard had enough.  “Doc,” she warned.  
   
“Sorry,” Cait replied, pausing in her ministrations and looking up sheepishly.  “I just...”  
   
“I know,” Jill replied, wincing when it came out sharper than she originally intended.  Softer now, she said, “I know, but we can’t find her until you let us out of here.”  
   
Beckett nodded and wrapped a final layer of dressing around the wound, taping it into place.  “Don’t overstrain yourself or you’ll need stitches,” she warned, looking like she knew her words would have the same effect speaking to an empty room.  She backed away slightly, letting the other woman hop down from the gurney she had been perched on.  Teyla and Ronon had already been treated and were waiting at the side to be dismissed.  With a final nervous nod, she requested, “Keep me appraised, please?”  
   
“I will,” Sheppard promised, headed for the door.  
   
In a voice just loud enough to carry the distance and with a brogue heavy from stress, Caitlin added, “Find her?”  
   
“We will,” Ronon promised, and Jill knew his words to be true.  One way or another, they would.  
 

* * *

The days passed with no perceptible progress.  The first two had involved the science team ripping apart the Sororre DHD and analyzing its contents while the Marines interrogated anyone and everyone from the settlement that they could get their hands on.  Not all of them had sided with the Genii, but enough had to cause tempers to start flaring and Teyla and Ellen to step in to calm things down.  The next three days were spent gating to possible locations based on addresses being deciphered from the DHD.  Still they found nothing.  
   
Weir had ordered Sheppard to take a break.  Jill was snapping at her own people, barely restraining herself from shouting at Zelenka and her team when yet another address came up cold.  She knew Rala was doing her best, and yet she still knew it was not enough.  
   
The nights had been filled with fitful sleep, when she got any at all.  Her mind full of images of just what was happening to Mer, only wishing her dreams were worse than the possible realities.   
   
On the fifth night, Teyla had led her to McKay’s room, dead on her feet.  She forced her to drink some Athosian tea and gently chided her for not taking care of herself enough to be ready when the time came.   
   
“She warned me, you know?” Jill muttered, not wanting to meet Teyla’s eyes.  
   
“How so?” the Athosian prompted, handing her another cup of tea.  
   
Sheppard dutifully sipped, feeling some of the weariness melt away.  She had no idea if it was the tea, the company, or the complete and utter exhaustion, but she felt the need to talk.  Teyla, as always, listened without judgment, only caring that her friend was well, or least doing better than she had been the past few days.   
   
“When we first started to get together, she warned me it was a bad idea, said we were tempting fate too much in a galaxy full of death, destruction, and life-sucking aliens.”  Jill chuckled without humor, wrapping her hands around the clay mug.  “I told her it was worth the risk.”  
   
“She must have been very pleased.”  
   
“No, not really,” Jill corrected.  “She slapped me upside the head and called me stupid and willful and greedy.”  
   
Teyla’s eyes widened slightly, but she kept her voice calm as she asked, “And then?”  
   
Jill smiled, the first one in days.  “Then we made out.”  She seemed lost in the memory for a moment before her face settled into the dour look she had been wearing for the last several days.  “Tell me we’ll find her,” she pleaded.  
   
A warm hand wrapped around her wrist, willing her to meet her friend’s eyes.  “We will bring her home,” Teyla swore, and Jill really wanted to believe it.  
   
They talked about nothing for a while.  As her anger drifted and her teammate’s words seemed to slur, she realized she had been slipped a mickie.  She would have glared, but found her eyes could barely stay open.  Teyla slowly removed Jill’s boots and laid her down on Mer’s bed, wrapping her lover’s comforter around her and promising to wake her if they found anything.  In the morning she woke to find the smaller woman curled up in one of the chairs, having never left the night before.  
   
The following nights were filled with similar experiences, minus the drugged tea.  After a fruitless day of searching, she passed out in Mer’s room, silently mourning the loss of her lover’s scent from the pillow as the time wore on.  There were nightmares, vivid and painful, causing her to rush awake gasping for air.  Always Teyla was there with reassuring words and a comforting shoulder to cry on.  Her friend sat with her when sleep would not return and she paged through the files of photos on a shared laptop, tracing the images with her fingers and explaining the story behind each one, how their first date had been an accident caused by too much drink and too little inhibitions, and how she had never regretted it yet.  Teyla sat with her as she told stories about their plans for the future, and held her as she questioned whether or not that future would ever come.  Every morning was met with the same promise, “We will find her.” 

* * *

On the morning of the eighth day, that time had come.  
   
Jill had been in the cafeteria, choking down a small breakfast of toast and juice under the watchful eye of Caitlin, when her radio chimed to life.  “Colonel Sheppard, please report to the Control Room.”  
   
She knew better than to get her hopes up, but her heart was still pounding by the time she stepped out of the transporter.  “What have you got?” she demanded, stepping up to meet the others.   
   
Zelenka, Weir, and even Lorne were gathered around a screen, looking at some analysis and bickering over the results.  It was Rala who first met her gaze and reported, “We think we found her.”  
   
“Doctor Z and her team have an address that matches the control crystal and is only one off from what one of the villagers remembers as a potential Genii address,” Ellen reported.  
   
“We’re not saying it’s definitively where she is being held,” Lionel warned.  
   
“But it’s a start,” Rala chimed in.  
   
“And a hell of a lot better than any of the leads we’ve had so far,” Lorne finished.  
   
Jill nodded as she took in the information, seeing the look of hope in their eyes and knowing it matched her own.  Swallowing heavily, she steadied herself and asked, “When do we head out?”  
 

* * *

Just shy of an hour and a half later, two Jumpers loaded with Marines and tracking equipment shot through the wormhole, already cloaked by the time they hit the other side.  They sent a ground team as distraction, lightly armed and looking like a standard trading mission.  They planned to go to the nearby village and offer to trade as they sniffed out clues on their involvement.  The plan was to return after the usual brief meet and greet and there was an exit strategy in place should things turn ugly.  It never got that far.  
   
The team opened the wormhole home, reporting to both Weir and the cloaked Jumpers that the place was deserted and looked like a bust, even though the life signs detectors were nearly screaming in protest.  They obediently returned, vocally complaining to any and all sensors and hidden watchmen that it was yet another planet to scratch off their lists.  
   
As expected, within fifteen minutes of the wormhole closing, several men in Genii uniforms appeared carrying bulky equipment that they used to scan the area.  A rudimentary examination later, and the Jumpers could hear them key their own radio system and report, “All clear, sir.  It doesn’t look like they left anything behind.”  
   
A very familiar voice crackled across the airwaves, “Are you certain?”  
   
Sheppard tightened her grip on the controls, hatred and loathing seething out of her as she grit out, “Koyla.”  It was one thing to suspect, but knowing it was almost enough to push her over the edge.  Only Teyla’s reassuring hand on her shoulder and Ronon’s bulk behind her stopped her from doing anything stupid.  
   
The ground team was still reporting.  “We are certain, sir.  No traces of Lantean technology found anywhere the Earth team visited.  The only energy traces detected are the residual readings from the Circle.”  
   
Jill silently thanked Rala for her idea of having the Jumpers hover over the gate until certain the predicted scans were complete.  She heard Koyla sign off even as she started up the Jumper systems that would hopefully help them narrow down McKay’s location on the planet.  The place seemed infested with life signs, at least locally, but there was no telling how far away or deep underground they were keeping her.  Long range sensors on full, she searched for anything more remote than the rest of the hidden settlement, any anomalous energy readings that might signal Genii tech, and even ran a scan for Mer’s subcutaneous transmitter, thought she doubted she would get any hits off the last one.  
   
There was one densely packed location with the signs practically on top of each other.  With a quick adjustment of the sensors, she was able to see the different layers underground, and approximately how many people were on each.  It had to be it; no other area looked close to promising and no other area had the strange energy readings as if shielding was in place.  Shielding that was not impervious to Ancient scans, true, but shielding nonetheless.  
   
“Here,” she said, pointing it out to the team on her Jumper and relaying it to Lorne’s team as well.  “We should be able to land here,” she suggested, highlighting a nearby area.  Another look at where several signs seemed to be entering and leaving the complex and she added, “And this looks like the access point.”  
   
It was a matter of moments before the Jumpers were landed and concealed and Jill was crouched behind some standard Pegasus galaxy foliage, watching the random Genii enter and leave the complex.  Her heart was pounding in her chest and she willed it to settle, trying to convince herself this was a standard military exercise, a simple rescue and recovery, nothing more.  But it was not.  Even the fleeting image of Mer, of the terrified look on her face as she was pulled away, hands futilely pressed up against the force field that held her, sent her blood boiling once more.  A quick look at the people surrounding her, feeling their anger, seeing their determination worn as a mask of honor, and she nodded.  “Let’s do this.”  
   
They stormed the complex, making short work of the security protocols at the door before raiding level by level, securing each one with gunfire and stunner blasts, until they reached the most promising one.  She blocked out the shrieking alarms as she concentrated on the handheld device before her.  There were the standard detachment of Genii, but not in the configuration that had been standard so far.  The majority were concentrated around the area giving off the strange energy readings, though others were scattering to answer the wail and set up defenses.  
   
Her Marines knew what to do, and set about securing the area.  By the time she entered what could easily be called the central control room, the handful of enemy soldiers were on the ground, bleeding, bruised, or just plain unconscious.  Half her people moved on to clear the hallways snaking out from the central room while the others made certain no one was coming at them from behind while they investigated.   
   
She caught a hint of movement out of the corner of her eye, her blade pinning the man’s hand a hairsbreadth away from a large button that she was fairly certain was another alarm or lockdown device.  “I don’t think so,” she warned, ignoring the sparks flying from her blade hitting the electronic equipment below.  Ronon pulled the man to his feet as she removed the knife, tossing him up against a wall by his throat before she could even wipe the blood off on her leg.  She approached, point first, demanding, “Where is she?”  
   
He said nothing, only turning to spit in her general direction.  Ronon’s fist connected with his jaw for his efforts.  “She asked you a question,” the Satedan growled.  
   
“I will tell you nothing,” the man insisted.  His breath was coming in heavy gasps, but Jill attributed that to the fact Ronon was nearly holding him off the floor by his throat, not to mention that his hand was still dripping copious amounts of blood.  
   
“Now, that’s not true,” she said with all the calmness she could force out of herself.  “Teyla,” she directed.  
   
The Athosian darted forward, gun still at the ready, and reached into the man’s uniform pocket.  She glanced at the papers she removed, automatically translating what she saw.  “His name is Nerod Ghim and he is in command of this level, the equivalent of a Colonel if Koyla was seen as a General,” she announced.  He gaze narrowed and darkened.  “It is an experimentation hub.”  
   
Jill nodded in understanding, forcing herself to focus on the situation and not her personal feelings.  “So, Colonel Neri, why don’t you tell me where you are keeping her?  We’ll discuss what you’ve been doing in a moment.”  
   
“I told you, I will tell you nothing,” the man repeated.  
   
In a quick motion, Jill took the man’s bloodied hand and slammed it up against the wall, her thumb pressing into the sensitive flesh and feeling the bones grind beneath her grip.  “And I told you, that’s not true,” she said quietly.   
   
She opened her mouth to ask again, but was interrupted by one of Lorne’s men darting around the corner.  “We think we found something, but the door’s locked,” Cadman reported.  
   
“Try this,” Ronon directed, ripping a set of keys and access cards from Ghim’s belt with his free hand.  
   
As Cadman trotted away, Sheppard returned her attention to the man before her.  She noticed the panicked look in his eyes and knew they were close.  “She’s in there, isn’t she?” she asked.  When there was no answer, she ground her thumb in once more, shouting, “Isn’t she?”  
   
“Yes,” Ghim finally answered.  A nod from Sheppard and Ronon finally released him to speak freely, stepping back until needed.  “The third access card will get you in, but you’ll still have to get past my men.  She’s even alive and everything, Koyla’s orders.”  
   
Jill released a breath she did not even know she was holding, watching as Teyla ran off to advise the others, already keying her radio.  “And now I’m going to ask you what you’ve done to her.”  
   
The man sneered, his bravado coming back with his ease of breathing now that Ronon was behind Sheppard.  “We’ve simply been keeping her company,” he reported, and Jill caught his good hand drifting down near his belt as he added, “In fact, I think my men did so just this morning.”   
   
He never reached whatever he had been grabbing for, though a small gun-like weapon clattered to the floor when he doubled over in pain, Jill’s blade embedded in his flesh once more.  She pulled it out quickly, doing almost as much damage removing it as she had slashing it in, ignoring the way he grabbed at his groin and collapsed onto the floor, hands covered in blood.  She stepped over him, hearing a satisfying thud as Ronon’s boot connected with him, and moved to join the others and hopefully free Mer from this hellhole.   
   
She arrived at the door just as the Marines were opening it, Cadman making a face as he said, “He forgot to mention the code written on the access card that you need to enter for it to work.”  
   
“It was written on it?” Ronon asked doubtingly.  
   
“In what looked to be his own handwriting,” the Lieutenant confirmed, readying his weapon.  “Dumbass,” he added, shaking his head.  
   
They stormed the area, finding, as expected, another half-dozen Genii ready and waiting for them.  More importantly though, was the large box-like cell from the Sororre planet with a very familiar form crouched into a small ball in the corner.  “Mer,” Jill whispered, wincing as a bullet bounced off the shielding enclosing her.  
   
That seemed to be the rallying call needed as her people finished off the last of the Genii soldiers in short order, leaving them breathing, but bloodied on the floor.  She ignored them all, stepping over shattered equipment to press against the shield.  “Mer,” she called, louder now, but receiving no response.  “McKay,” she tried, still nothing.  She turned to the man waiting at her side, ordering, “Get her out of there.”  
   
Cadman nodded and got to work.  Rala had found the schematics for something similar in the Ancient database and given him instructions on the most likely way to disable it.  After five minutes of fruitless tinkering, he shrugged and ran another of Ghim’s cards through a reader rigged on the side, typing in the handwritten sequence as Teyla translated.  An audible click sounded, followed by a flash of yellowish light as the shield collapsed and Jill’s hand passed harmlessly over the black line delineating the edge of the prison.  
   
She wasted no time crossing to her lover’s side, crouching beside her and laying a gentle hand on her hunched shoulder.  Her heart broke when the scientist flinched away, curling in on herself that much more.  “Mer?” she tried.  “Mer, honey, it’s me.  We’re here.  You’re safe.  We’re going to bring you home.”  
   
Something must have gotten through as the tangled mass of curls slowly rose to reveal a bruised and battered face.  “Jill?” McKay asked, her voice harsh from either not enough usage or too much.  
   
“I’m here,” she promised, stroking a warm hand down a shivering shoulder.  
   
Anything else she was going to say was knocked out of her as Meredith latched on for dear life, nearly tumbling them both to the ground.  “Not pretend?” she asked, the question muffled against her lover’s neck.  
   
“Not pretend,” Jill swore, wrapping her arms around her that much tighter.  She felt the noticeable loss of weight as her hands outlined Mer’s ribcage, the torn and filthy fabric of her shirt, and the warmth and solidness that was Mer.  “We’re here to take you home,” she repeated.  
   
McKay pulled back slightly, trusting Jill to not let her fall, and looked around at the gathered Marines.  “Please say you kicked their asses,” she pleaded, earning a few grins.  
   
“A lot,” Ronon assured her.  
   
She still looked to Jill for confirmation, who nodded with a shaky smile.  “A lot,” she agreed.  
   
“Good,” Mer breathed, burying her head against her Colonel once more.  
   
Jill’s radio chirped in her ear and she paid no attention to it, concentrating on the figure in her arms.  She could not, however, ignore the hesitant touch to her arm followed by Cadman’s soft, “Ma’am, that was Major Lorne, she says reinforcements are headed this way and we need to bug out unless we want to take them on.”  
   
“Bring ‘em,” Ronon growled, keying the setting on his pistol up one level.  
   
As much as Jill wanted to agree with that assessment, she also felt the way Mer was shaking and trying really hard to hide it at simply the idea of more of the troops approaching.  “We need to go,” she ordered, knowing he would understand.  Lowering her head into the matted curls she repeated in a whisper, “We need to go, okay?”  
   
McKay nodded and tried to push herself upright, using Sheppard as more of a crutch than either woman would ever admit.  Standing, Jill took a step back, keeping a hold on Mer’s arm as she got her first good look at her.  One blue eye was swollen and nearly purple around the edges, fading to blue only to turn back to almost black along her jaw line.  Her bottom lip was split and stained with a mixture of fresh and old blood, as if she had given up trying to stop the bleeding.  Her shirt was stained and torn, her exposed skin smeared with grime and bruises, though one arm had a sort of bandage around it, already stained a dark brown.  Her pants were ripped and missing a button, held up by a makeshift belt made up of scraps of fabric from her own clothing and the sparse bedding they had allowed her.  Her boots were gone, as were her socks, leaving her barefoot on the cold cement.  
   
Jill bit her lip and forced herself to calm, feeling herself clutching Mer’s arm far more than had to be comfortable, though the other woman did not complain.  “What did they do to you?” she asked, hating the way her voice cracked with the words.  
   
“That’s not important right now,” Mer told her, pushing her hair out of her eyes.  Jill silently noted the torn and ragged nails encrusted with filth.  “We can have our breakdown later.  Right now we need to get out of here.”  
   
Sheppard nodded, shifting her grip a little.  “Can you walk?” she asked.  
   
“If it means getting the hell out of here?  I can run,” Mer replied, taking a shuffling step.  She looked up ruefully.  “Just not that fast.”  
   
Jill moved to wrap her arm around for support, but Mer stopped her, looking expectantly at her lover’s thigh.  Jill got the message and handed the injured woman her nine mil, keeping the P90 for herself, and resumed her offer of support as they finally left the confines of the cell.   
   
Teyla took point with Ronon following behind them and the Marines fanning out in all directions around the team.  When they reached the central control area, Mer glanced down at the bloodied form of Ghim, still howling in pain on the floor.  “Your work?” she guessed, giving Jill a quick squeeze at the simple shrug she got in return.  As they started to pass him, she kicked out with her foot, adding insult to injury.  “Trust me, he deserved it,” she explained, trying to hide the fact her actions had cost her as she tenderly put her foot down again.  
   
Ronon appeared at her side, nearly lifting her off the ground as he escorted her the rest of the way across the room, leaving Sheppard behind at one of the control panels.  “Knew there was a reason I put up with you,” he smirked before putting her back down.  She offered a shaky smile back but immediately reached for Jill again as soon as the other woman reached the doorway.  
   
“Did you kill him?” Mer demanded.  
   
“Tempted, but no,” she promised.   
   
“Can I?” McKay tried.  
   
Jill scouted the area in front of her, listening to several metallic thunks as doors began to close.  “I just sent the area into lockdown, it will be hours before anyone can get in once it’s finished.  Which is more important to you right now: getting out of here, or killing him?”  
   
Meredith did not even pretend to think about it.  “Get me the fuck out of here.”  
   
They reached the surface far faster than Sheppard thought McKay was capable of considering the shape she was in, but ended up nearly having to carry the woman across the field and into the woods where the Jumpers waited for them due to her shoeless state.  Once inside the Jumper, Mer continued to follow Jill to the front, not yet releasing her death grip even when she tried to sit in the pilot’s seat.  
   
“You have to let go if I’m going to fly us out of here,” Jill reminded her, already mentally starting the pre-flight sequences.  
   
“Oh,” was all Mer said, looking down at her hand like it was a foreign object as she finally let go.  She collapsed down into the copilot’s chair, only realizing the gun was still in her grip when Teyla gently took it from her, replacing it with a Power Bar.  
   
Jill glanced over to see her cram as much as possible into her mouth.  “Whoa, slowly,” she warned, not surprised to see her cough for her efforts.  “When’s the last time you ate?”  
   
Mer accepted the canteen from Ronon and took a deep drought.  “Yesterday,” she replied, immediately tearing off another bite.  “They fed me about once a day or whenever I started to pass out, as far as I could tell.”  
   
Sheppard’s hands tightened around the controls, trying not to think about things like blood sugar or hypoglycemic shock on top of everything else as she resisted the urge to fire several drones on the base.  “Just eat slowly,” she chided.  “There’s plenty more where that came from.”  
   
“More?” McKay questioned in awe.   
   
Ronon shoved a handful of the bars forward, but Teyla took only one and pressed it into her hand.  “You can rest now,” she told her.  She took a space blanket that was offered by one of the Marines and wrapped it around the still shivering woman.  “You are safe,” she promised.  
   
“Safe?” Mer asked carefully, as if not quite sure of the meaning of the word, as her eyes began to droop.  
   
“Safe,” Jill promised, hearing the word echoed by her teammates.  She dialed the gate and eased the Jumper through, hoping things would be better on the other side.  
   
Mer could barely keep her eyes open when the Jumper landed, barely making a fuss as the medics swarmed in to check her over and load her on to a waiting gurney.  Jill stayed in the pilot’s chair, trying to stay both close and out of the way.  She watched as they wheeled her lover away, making an abortive motion to follow as she realized she was still the military commander and had duties to attend to.  The important thing right now was that Meredith was home safe in Caitlin’s hands, and not still locked in a cell on some Genii planet.  
   
She looked up from her thoughts to find Teyla and Ronon waiting expectantly.  “Should we get this over with?” she asked, knowing they understood the need for all the official procedures.  They needed to drop off their gear and get the first run reports from all those involved in the mission so they could give Weir a brief run down.  The official reports would come later, but they needed to basic facts while they were still fresh in everyone’s minds.  Taking their nods as agreement, she pushed herself up from her chair, needing a moment to steady herself on legs surprisingly wobbly.   
   
Teyla rested a reassuring hand on her arm, giving her a moment to steady herself.  “We shall try to make this as expedient as possible,” she promised, earning a small smile of gratitude in return.  
   
As they started to make their way out of the Jumper, Ronon stopped Sheppard with a hand on her shoulder.  “She’s home,” was all he said.  
   
The smile turned bright as Jill agreed, "Yeah, she is."

* * *

   
The actual review process took longer than she wanted, but was far shorter than it had any right to be.  Everyone seemed to understand her need to get down to the infirmary and check on the injured scientist herself.  Once in the infirmary, however, Caitlin’s nurses shuffled her away for a quick post-mission check up, cleaning new scratches and re-bandaging old.  All in all, it was nearly two-and-a-half hours before she broke free of her obligations to go see the woman she cared about, only to find out she was going to need to wait some more.  
   
“Doctor Beckett wanted to check on a couple more things,” was all the nurse would tell her, escorting her over to what passed as the waiting area.  
   
Forty-five minutes later and Jill was getting anxious.  She had seen the obvious injuries, and suspected a couple more, but could not think of anything that would take quite so long to slap a band aid on and let her in.  Actually, she could think of one thing, but was actively trying not to.  
   
Finally, Beckett appeared.  “She’s okay.  Yes, you can see her, but not until after you hear what I have to say,” Caitlin said in short order, holding up a hand to stop Sheppard from taking off right away.  
   
“How bad?” was all Jill was able to grit out, squirming in her seat.  
   
“Mostly bruised, but a few cuts as well, nothing too serious though,” Beckett assured her.  She glanced down at her notes, a gesture both knew was a stalling tactic.  “It looks like the scarring from her previous encounter with the Genii was reopened and, from the sound of it, Koyla’s the one who had the pleasure of doing it.  You didn’t happen to find and shoot the bastard, did you?”  
   
Jill’s blood was simmering just at the name, let alone the image of that man having his hands on Mer.  “No, I didn’t,” she said with disgust.  “I checked with Major Lorne and neither she nor her men found any sign of him.  We heard him on a radio, so we know he was there, but...”  
   
Caitlin nodded in understanding.  “Well, Meredith certainly remembers him being there, along with some fellow named Ghim, and she’s not quite so fond of the memories,” she warned.  “From what I can glean, they were experimenting with some new technology they wanted her to work on, so they kept any physical damage to a minimum.  However, it looks like it may have been related to the Ancient gene and their own form of gene therapy, so they took quite a bit of her blood for testing.”  
   
Jill took a moment to process that before asking the question foremost on her mind.  “Is she okay?”  
   
“She will be,” Beckett promised.  Her words were tinged with both concern and warning, but spoken with a surety that spoke of her friend’s fortitude and ability to withstand far more than she ever thought she needed to.  
   
“Can I?” Jill asked, motioning towards the curtain she knew her lover lay behind.  
   
“Yes.”  Caitlin stood back to let Jill at her, clearly not in the least surprised at how fast she moved.  The doctor walked along with her, explaining, “She will stay here for at least tonight but, barring any complications, will be released to her quarters tomorrow or the day after.  The familiar surroundings will be best for her, but she is not, under any circumstances, to be allowed back to work in the labs until I give the all clear.”  
   
Sheppard nodded in understanding before pulling back the curtain to reveal her injured partner.  She looked a hundred times better and a hundred times worse than Jill could have ever hoped for.  The dirt and grime was scrubbed clean, revealing dark bruises on pale skin.  Sterile white bandages were wrapped around her arm and several fingers, and an IV was dripping needed nutrients and antibiotics into her clearly weakened body.  The nurses must have had a field day with her hair, the still damp curls neatly brushed to within an inch of their life, not a trace of muck or knots to be found.  She was also sound asleep, the dark shadows under her eyes attesting to how much the respite was needed.  
   
“You can stay,” Cait answered her unasked question.  “She’ll likely sleep all afternoon if not ‘til morning and, if she doesn’t, I can give her something to help with that.  She’s exhausted, plain and simple.  Aside from the obvious healing, she needs rest most of all.”  Beckett turned to eye Jill critically before adding, “As do you.”  
   
Sheppard sat heavily in the chair provided, wiping a hand across her face before gingerly reaching out to grasp Mer’s hand.  McKay twitched slightly in her sleep, but her body seemed to recognize the touch, swollen fingers tightening in response.  Jill looked up to see the doctor backing away from the area to give them some privacy and found there was one more question she needed to ask.  “Was she...?” she started, but the words choked in her throat.  
   
Caitlin lowered her eyes and bit her lip before taking a deep breath and declaring, “It’s not my place to tell you, and you know that.”  
   
Jill fought back the tears that found their way to her eyes.  Tears of gratitude for her lover’s return, tears of grief for what she was forced to endure, she honestly did not know, no longer able to separate out her own emotions.  She lowered her forehead to their joined hands, whispering, “You’re home, baby, you’re home.  That’s all that matters; you’re home.”  
   
She awoke hours later to find a heavy hand tangled in the short strands of her hair with McKay muttering, “I love you too, you sap.”  A quick readjustment into a more comfortable position, and both dozed off once more.  
 

* * *

The next day featured a lot of visitors, a lot of forced smiling, and a lot of denial.  Finally, after Ronon had scared off the last of the well-wishers, Jill turned to Mer and asked, “Are you ready to blow this joint?”  
   
Mer’s eyes grew wide and, for a moment, she thought she was going to refuse to leave the safety the isolation of the infirmary provided.  Instead, in a voice still slightly scratchy from her ordeal, the scientist pleaded, “Oh, please say you are not kidding.”  
   
Jill smiled, tucking a wayward curl behind Mer’s ear, saying, “Nope, not kidding.”  
   
McKay tore off the covers and stuffed her feet in the fuzzy little slippers at the side of the bed.  She shook as she fully stood the first time on her own, but her voice was strong as she ordered, “Get me out of this fishbowl before I’m forced to smack the next person who looks at me with pity.”  
   
“I’ll smack them for you,” Ronon offered, pushing up a wheelchair.  
   
“As will I,” Teyla chimed in from behind him.  
   
Meredith smiled at the offers, but frowned when she noticed what her friends brought with them.  “I’m not going in that,” she swore, crossing her arms in front of her and leaning slightly back against the bed to steady herself.  
   
“Yes, you are,” all three of her teammates replied, striking identical positions.  
   
“Freedom for a chair,” Jill tempted in a singsong voice.  
   
Mer glared, but relented with a huffed, “Fine.”  She threw herself down into the chair, trying to hide a slight wince at the movement before tucking her feet up on the little shelf thingies provided.  “Can we go now?  Before the shepherdess decides to change her mind and keep me here against my will?”  
   
A throat cleared on the other side of the bed, signaling the presence of a less than amused Doctor Beckett.  “Just for that...” she began, but stopped when she saw her friend’s crestfallen face.  She shook her head with a wry grin.  “You’re lucky that I like ye,” she teased with a purposefully strong accent.  
   
“Conditions?” Jill prompted, trying to get the show on the road, and Mer back to something more comforting and familiar.  
   
“Right,” Caitlin said, resetting her thoughts and regaining her professional demeanor.  “The good Doctor McKay is to return once a day to have her dressings looked at and to make sure she is healing right and proper.  I want her to eat a minimum of three real meals a day consisting of something more than Power Bars and to actually get some rest.  There will be no sneaking down to play with reactors or whatever you do in your lab until I say so and then it will be light duty until you whine too much for me to stand.  There will be no off world missions until you have at least one session with Heightmeyer, and more if he insists.  If you prefer, I can try to find a female therapist.  I can only think of one offhand, Doctor Hildebrader, she just came on the Daedalus and I believe she’s booked up for a bit but willing to make an exception if needed.”  
   
“Anything else?” Mer asked impatiently, making a show of looking towards the door even though Jill had caught her panicked look at the mention of seeing a therapist.  
   
“Yes,” Beckett replied, used to the behavior.  “I want you to take all of your pills, let me know if even the slightest thing seems off, and actually follow my directions for a change.”  The last was said looking at Sheppard, knowing the Colonel was on unofficial nursemaid duties for the time being and trusting her more than the patient to advise her if anything actually needed attention.  
   
Mer waved a hand in the air, the closest she would ever come to capitulation.  “Yes, fine, whatever.  Can I go?”  
   
Cait seemed to think about it for a moment before relenting.  “Aye, off with ye,” she agreed, tucking her notepad under her arm.  “But expect me to come hunt you down if you don’t show up as ordered.”  
   
“Deal, whatever, bye!” McKay called out, reaching down to push the chair by the wheels herself if she had to.  It was a task made much easier when Ronon released the break and backed her away from the bed.  
   
As they passed, Cait grabbed Jill by the elbow, pulling her close.  “She’s going to need you for a bit,” she warned.  
   
“Kind of expected that,” Sheppard told her, watching the others near the doorway.  
   
“Don’t push,” Beckett added.  
   
“Like that’s ever worked with her,” Jill countered, earning a small smile.  “Anything else?”  
   
Cait nodded, releasing her grip and patting her on the shoulder.  “Thank you for bringing her home.”  
   
Jill raised an eyebrow at her, saying, “There was no other option.”  
   
As she walked away, she heard Beckett mutter more to herself than to anyone else, “No, there really wasn’t, was there?”  
 

* * *

Ronon and Teyla made certain that Mer was settled in her own room before leaving with the promise of returning for the evening meal.  They were as subtle as a jackhammer, but Jill appreciated the gesture and the gift of the very first time truly alone with McKay since they returned.  
   
Mer was already yawning, shuffling towards the bed after a quick look around her room to make sure everything was where she left it.  She sat down heavily, kicked off her slippers, and flopped to the side, eyes drifting shut.  They opened slowly with a critical glare.  “Smells different,” she accused.  She buried her head in the pillow before turning to look at Sheppard once more as she tucked up her feet.  “Smells like you.”  
   
Jill scratched at her already wild hair, hanging her head a bit as she admitted, “I may have possibly stayed here... for a while...”  
   
She looked up to see a fond expression on her lover’s face.  “Come here, you sap,” Mer directed, patting the mattress beside her.  Jill did not need to be asked twice, kicking off her boots, draping her holster over a chair, and laying down behind her, pulling up the blankets to cover them both.  
   
She turned to her side, reaching out a hesitant hand to wrap around Mer, but stopped before she made contact.  “Is this...?” she started.  She swallowed, mind racing with the possibility that her touch might not be wanted; not now and not for a while, if ever again.  “Can I...?”  
   
“Please?” Mer asked, taking her hand in her bandaged own and pulling it across her.  A few minor adjustments to get herself settled, and the injured woman added, “I’m not broken, you know.”  
   
“You sure about that?” Jill asked, feeling those damned tears threatening again.  She blinked several times to hold them back, not willing to give herself away by swiping at them.  
   
Mer’s grip on her arm tightened as she yanked her closer.  “I’m hurt, yeah, but not broken.  They tried but, like the dumbasses they are, they failed.”  She paused for a moment before taking a deep breath.  Jill could almost picture her composing herself before she continued, “I went through something that truly and utterly sucked and is going to stay with me for a while.  There’s going to be nightmares and I’m probably going to be skittish around people, and even more of a bitch than usual, but it will get better because it sure as hell can’t get worse.”  
   
Jill buried her nose in Mer’s curls, muttering, “But you shouldn’t have had to.”  
   
“And we shouldn’t live in a galaxy with life-sucking vampires, but we do,” came the retort.   
   
McKay idly stroked her hand, the bandages from the infirmary catching the small hairs of her skin, but she didn’t mind.  She squirmed infinitesimally closer, fanning her hand across the softness of the scrubs Mer still wore, feeling the warmth of her body beneath.  She breathed deeply, beyond the soap and shampoo the nurses used, finding the scent she missed so much.   
   
“I thought about you every day,” Mer’s voice broke the silence.  She sounded hesitant, as if she shouldn’t be admitting it.  “I dreamed of you swooping in with a grand rescue, taking out all of those assholes.  I had a particularly satisfying scenario planned for Koyla.  Each night, when they locked me back in that cell - which they stole from some other planet by the way, being too stupid to come up with something like it themselves – I’d think of you.  Your hands.  Your voice.  Your stupid hair.  I’d think of you holding me, just like this, and I’d finally fall asleep.”  
   
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Jill started, hearing her own voice crack.   
   
She expected some sort of crack about her weaknesses, but instead only heard, “I’m not.”  McKay craned her neck to look over her shoulder, something that had to be uncomfortable, but for once did not complain.  “If you were there, who would come rescue me?”  
   
Jill raised herself up on an elbow to gaze down into earnest, if tired, blue eyes.  “Who’s the sap now?” the teased, stealing a quick kiss to take the sting out of her words.  
   
“You for bawling and trying to hide it from me?” Mer guessed with the hint of a grin.  She flipped over completely, almost successfully hiding a grimace as she snuggled up against her lover’s chest.  “I missed you,” she whispered.  
   
Sheppard pressed a kiss to the curls under her chin.  “I missed you too,” she admitted.  She hooked both arms around her and held her close.  “You know, we’re pretty lucky,” she mused.  
   
Mer sat up at that, and elbow digging painfully into a ribcage as she asked in bewilderment, “Lucky?  What are you, insane?”  She made a show of checking Jill’s forehead for fever and any exposed skin for injury.  “We live in a strange galaxy light-years from home, short on power and supplies, dealing with space vampires and overzealous farmers with Armageddon tendencies and you think we’re lucky?”  
   
Sheppard pulled her back down against her, saying, “Yeah, I do.”  Satisfied she was settled and was not about to damage any more internal organs, she continued, “Because, for now at least, we’re safe, we’re sound, we’re home, and we have each other.”  
   
“Well, when you put it that way...” McKay mock grumbled, tilting her head up for a kiss.  
   
“I love you,” Jill said as they separated.  “I may not say it often enough, but I really do.”  
   
Mer squeezed her tighter and Sheppard felt something suspiciously wet soak through her shirt.  “I love you too,” she eventually replied.  She sniffed before adding, “Even if you have stupid hair.”  
   
Jill grinned, listening as her lover’s breaths evened out and she drifted off to sleep.  Staring up at the ceiling, she thought about the past few days, the past few years, spent with this one wonderfully annoying woman.  They faced danger on a regular basis, but through it all, one thing remained: they did it together.  She closed her eyes with a final thought of, “Yeah, lucky.”

 

End.


End file.
